A brief introduction to animal rights

For example, the right to be free from torture is the same as human beings. In other words, animals should be treated equally as human beings, not just as human property or tools, whether in legal or spiritual terms. level.

In some countries, legislation has been adopted to protect animal rights. In 1992, Switzerland legally recognized animals as "beings" rather than "things"; in 2002, Germany wrote animal protection provisions into its constitution. The "Panthropus Project", founded by Australian scholar Peter Singer and based in Seattle, USA, is currently seeking for the US government to adopt its "Panthropus Declaration", which calls for granting a human species consisting of gorillas, The "community of equals" composed of orangutans and two subspecies of chimpanzees has three basic rights: the right to survival, the right to individual freedom and the right to be free from torture.

Critics believe that because animals cannot discuss social contracts or make moral judgments, cannot take into account the rights of others, and even have no concept of rights at all, they cannot be considered to have moral rights. . Animal rights scholar Roger Scruton believes that the logic of these people is that "because only humans bear responsibility, only humans should have rights."

Some critics of animal rights believe that while there is nothing fundamentally wrong with using animals for food, entertainment or scientific research, legislation should still be in place to protect these animals from unnecessary suffering. This view is known as "animal welfarism" and is a view held by some established animal protection groups, including the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.